We end up back at the interstate after walking in silence. Exhausted, we all agree to take a break before figuring out what happens next. I go back to my truck, log all the stats from today into my journal, and lay across the seats. Sophia's shot, T-Dog's condition is getting worse, and now Carl is fucking shot. Having so many more people to worry about is really taking a toll on my stamina. I stare at the picture on my sun visor, remembering the times I worried about my old family. It has to be different this time. I can't lose everyone I care about twice.

The agreed upon fifteen minute break passes so I pull myself up and slip out of my truck. I see Dale, T-Dog, Andrea, and Daryl at the RV and Glenn and Carol heading over as well. When I reach the RV, people are already fussing over what we should do.

"I won't do it," Carol asserts, "We can't just leave."

"Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak," Dale argues.

"What if she comes back and we're not here?" She must see the disbelief on everyone's faces because she adds, "It could happen."

"If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful," Andrea agrees. She's right. I don't see any reason we all have to go to this mystery farm anyway. Carl's survival is out of our hands, but we can still be here for Sophia.

Everyone looks to Daryl for his input. "Okay. We gotta plan for this. I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign. Leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight. Stay with the RV." As he says this, I see Carol's face relax immediately. He really does know how to put people at ease, another surprising quality of his.

"If the RV is staying, I am too," Dale adds.

"Thank you. Both of you," Carol says.

Daryl looks to Andrea. "I'm in."

He turns to me, although I'm sure he already knows my answer. "I've got nowhere else to be."

"Well, if you're all staying then I'm—"

Glenn gets cut off by Dale, "Not you Glenn, you're going. Take Carol's Cherokee."

"Me? Why is it always me?"

"We have to find this farm, reconnect with our people, and see what's going on. But most important, you have to get T-Dog there. This is not an option. That cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a very serious blood infection." Daryl looks behind his shoulder and walks to his motorcycle, taking some towels off it and getting something from a bag. "Get him to that farm. See if they have any antibiotics. Because if not, T-Dog will die. No joke."

Daryl returns throwing the towels to Dale, "Keep your oily rags off my brother's motorcycle." He opens up a large plastic bag filled with pill bottles. "Why'd you wait til now to say anything? Got my brother's stash." He starts sorting through the bottles. "Crystal, X—don't need that—got some kickass painkillers." He tosses a bottle to Glenn and goes back to the bag, finding what he was looking for. "Oxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class." He gives the bottle to Dale. "Merle got the clap on occasion." I smile—who knew Merle Dixon's STD medication would save a man's life one day?

Even with the medication, we all agree it'd still be best to get T-Dog to the farm, just to be safe. Before they leave, I wait by Carol's car to see Glenn off.

"Thanks for doing this," I tell him. "I know you wanted to stay here, but they ask you to do these things because they trust you."

He still looks disappointed, with his hands in his pockets and head low, and says, "I know. Don't miss me too much, okay?"

I laugh, giving him a hug, "Yeah yeah, I'll be fine."

He moves to get in the car, but before he does, he tells me, "Stay safe," then closes the door.

I wave to him as he leaves, then head to the RV to help with dinner.

DARYL

We finish making the big sign to leave in case Sophia finds her way back as well as sort out what supplies to leave. After dinner, everyone goes their separate ways.

As for me, I start looking over the map, figuring out where this farm we're going to is. I'm not sure what to think of the whole situation. Some chick rides in on a horse and we all follow her like lost puppies? Fuck, we don't know these people. Besides, we haven't found Sophia yet. We can't keep getting distracted by things when she's still out there. I find the road she told us—Fairburn—on the map, trace it with my finger. It's not too far away, that's good at least. Maybe this won't be such a bad thing. If we have something nice going on here, people might not be too eager to move on.

I hear footsteps coming up behind me. I turn around and see Red. "Hey," she calls softly. "Planning the trip for tomorrow?" Looking around my shoulder at the map, she leans in close. I can feel her hair tickling my arm.

"Uh, yeah," I clear my throat, "Fairburn is close. Shouldn't take long at all."

"Hmmm. That's good." She moves away from the map and leans against a nearby car. "So what do you think? Of going to this farm?"

"Won't know til we get there. Could be good to get off the interstate—have somewhere to set up camp."

She nods, then after a moment, she looks right at me and says, "You're doing a great job—leading the search and everything."

I look back to the map, "Tell me that after we've found her."

"It's true though. Everyone listens to what you have to say. You even made Carol feel better, telling her we'll make a sign and leave supplies."

"It ain't a big deal or nothin." She makes it sound like I'm doing so much, but all I've done is wander through the forest. I ain't no leader.

I look up and see her smiling at me. "Just take the compliment." She pushes herself off the car. "I'm going to get some sleep. You should too."

I nod as she walks past me, to her truck. My eyes stay her back as she goes. I want to tell her she should sleep in the RV, instead of that cramped truck of hers, but I can't.

The things she said—about people wanting to hear what I have to say—keep playing over and over in my head. How much can she really mean that? She probably knows a bunch of smart ass doctors and shit. How impressive can walking through the fuckin' woods be?

I look back at the map, trying to think of what route to take next time we look for the girl. She's gotta be out there somewhere.

After I have everything figured out, I call it a night and head into the RV. I nod at Andrea, who's playin' with her gun, and lay down on the floor. I try to fall asleep for a while, but Carol's sniffling and whimpering keep me up. Not that it's real loud or nothin' but knowing why she's cryin' doesn't help.

I get up quietly and find my crossbow, slinging it over my shoulder. "I need my clip now," I whisper. Andrea passes it to me and I tell her, "I'm gonna walk the road. Look for the girl." The sniffling stops for a moment and I see Carol looking over from her bed. I nod before leaving the RV, heading to the trees.

"I'm coming too," Andrea says, catching up to me.

I look up at Dale, watching from the RV, and give him a heads up, "I'm going for a walk. Shine some light in the forest. If she's out there, give her something to look at."

"You think that's a good idea right now?"

"Dale." Andrea says, annoyed. She doesn't even look back at him or stop walking. I nod to him, knowing there's no stopping her, and follow her into the forest.

We walk side by side in silence, until she asks, "You really think we're going to find Sophia?"

The fuck is with everyone? It's only been two days. I shine the light on her face, "You got that look on your face, same as everybody else. The hell's wrong with you people? We just started lookin'."

"Well, do you?" I remember what Red told me, about people listening to me. Maybe she was right after all.

"It ain't the mountains of Tibet. It's Georgia. She could be holed up in a farmhouse somewhere. People get lost and survive. It happens all the time."

"She's only twelve."

"Hell, I was younger than her and I got lost. Nine days in the woods, eatin' berries, wiping my ass with poison oak."

"They found you?" She asks it naturally, assuming people were lookin' for me. There wasn't any "they", no search party.

"My old man was off on a bender with some waitress. Merle was doing another stint in juvie. Didn't even know I was gone. I made my way back though. Went straight into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. No worse for wear. Except my ass itched somethin' awful."

She starts chuckling so I turn to her. "I'm sorry," she tries to stop giggling. "I'm sorry, that is a terrible story." It doesn't work though—she starts laughing again and I join in.

"Only difference is, Sophia's got people lookin' for her. I call that an advantage." That seems to answer her question, although I doubt she's any more hopeful than before.

There's silence for a while until she asks her next question: "Ashlyn—what do you think of her?"

I stop walking for a second, caught off guard. What's she wondering about that for? She looks back at me so I start walking. "She's a good person, strong, I suppose. Why?"

"Just thought you two seemed pretty close. And the way you ran after her, when I told you she went looking for Sophia by herself. Never saw you look that worried."

I remember what I said to her, that night I looked for her—'Do you know how worried I was when I didn't see you?' I guess I can't really deny anything. I remember her, backed against the tree, looking up at me. I remember her kissing my cheek. Feeling Andrea's eyes on me, I look away, pointing my flashlight in the trees. "Just didn't want another person gettin' lost out here is all."

"Guess it was just my imagination," she says, sounding amused. Damn, I go lookin' for one person and she thinks I'm sweet on her? This ain't a fuckin' game.

"Keep your eyes open, don't need a walker sneaking up on you again," I grumble.

We walk on for a while, sweeping the forest with our flashlights, when I hear rustling up ahead. I signal for her to be quiet and we sneak toward the sound. There's a small campsite in a clearing around where the noise is coming from. I hear something up in a tree so I shine my light on it.

I smell it before I see it. A walker—hanging from a branch—snarls at us and swings its arms tryin' to grab us. "What the hell?" I step closer and find a sign on the tree. "'Got bit. Fever hit. World gone to shit. Might as well quit.' Dumbass didn't know enough to shoot himself in the head. Turned himself into a big, swinging piece of bait. And a mess." Shining the light over his legs, it looks like there's nothing left but bone and some ligaments. I hear Andrea gagging. "You alright?" Don't blame her, it's a nasty thing to be lookin' at.

"Trying not to puke."

"Go ahead if you gotta."

"No, I'm fine. Let's—let's just talk about something else for a moment. How'd you learn to shoot?"

"Gotta eat. That's one thing these walkers and us have in common." The bastard desperately claws at us. "I guess it's the closest he's been to food since he turned. Hanging up there like a big piñata. The other geeks came and ate the flesh off his legs."

I hear Andrea throw up, "Ugh, I thought we were changing the subject."

"Call that payback for laughing about my itchy ass."

"There wasn't a lot that came up."

"Huh. Let's head back." No point lookin' at this son of a bitch all night.

"Wait, aren't you gonna…" She points her flashlight on the geek.

"No. He ain't hurting nobody. Ain't gonna waste an arrow either. He made his choice, opted out. Let him hang."

I turn to leave but she walks closer to the walker. It's obvious what she's thinking about. I'm sure it's been on here mind ever since she lost Amy. I walk over to her and ask, "You want to live now or not?" She turns around, surprised I asked. "It's just a question."

"An answer for an arrow. Fair?" I nod. "I don't know if I want to live. Or if I have to or if it's just a habit."

I lift up my crossbow, "That's not much of an answer." My arrow hits its target, right through the walker's eye. "Waste of an arrow."

I think of Red again. After Andrea saying I worry about her too much, it pisses me off, but I have to ask anyway. "Red—I mean—Ashlyn, what do you think her answer would be?" The image of her standing in the CDC with all those books in her arms, in that flower dress, like she was lost while everyone was running for their lives, has been haunting me ever since.

Andrea doesn't give me the smug I-knew-it face I was expecting. Instead, she answers me seriously, "I wondered about her too. She lost her sister, just like I did. And after everything Jenner said to her, about them being the same, I thought it might be true. But it's like you said—she's strong. She told me that she didn't want to run away anymore. I'm not entirely sure what she meant by that… but I don't think she's giving up anytime soon."

Did she really say that? That she didn't want to run away anymore? The words suddenly remind me of the day we met her. When we asked for a ride back to camp, she freaked out and bolted, not trusting us. I yelled something at her—Fine then! Run away!

I remember what she said to me earlier today, behind the church. She said she wanted the group to rely on her more. Maybe she really does want to live. What could've changed that though? I know she almost stayed with Jenner. Something must've changed her mind.

I look back at Andrea. "I don't think so either."

ASHLYN

I can't sleep. It's pretty late but I've been tossing and turning all night—as much as I can in this tiny space at least. Frustrated, I sit up and find my flashlight and Dr. Hanson's final report, the one that was left with his suicide note. It's about time I started reading this I suppose. I start flipping through the pages, just to get a better sense of what's in here. I don't think I'll be able to make much sense of this. The writing is highly technical and some of the graphs look completely foreign to me. However, I start picking up on some of the information as I struggle through it. Nothing so far has surprised me, but the charts showing the rate of infection spread in various cities is certainly interesting. Even the places that tried to quarantine outbreaks early on only delayed the same outcome.

Eventually I find myself getting drowsy so I pack away the papers and turn off my flashlight. Just as I'm about to lie down, however, I see two lights approaching the RV. Grabbing my gun, I begin to quietly open my truck door, ready to ambush whoever is sneaking around our site. Before I get out though, I notice Dale climbing down from his position on top the RV to greet them.

When the two people get close enough, I realize it's Daryl and Andrea. Relief washes over me; the camp is safe. It doesn't take long for me to start wondering where Daryl and Andrea went thought. What were they doing, walking around at night? I remember the conversation I had with Andrea, when she asked me if there was anything going on between Daryl and I. Suddenly everything she asked has a different meaning to me. Was she asking me that because there was something going on between them? I just realize I've only been with the group for a short amount of time and I have no idea how long they've known each other. For all I know, they could've been hooking up for months now—

Whoa, what am I thinking? This isn't some MTV drama, this is the fucking zombie apocalypse. I immediately hate myself for being so nosy. Besides, it's not like Daryl and I have something going on. I lay down and burry my face in my pillow. That's right. It has nothing to do with me. I keep telling myself that but for some reason, I still have a sick feeling in my stomach.

Okay, I know this is a really short chapter and it took forever to come out but I've been really busy moving back in for college! I already have most of the next chapter written though—it was originally part of this one, but I liked ending it here better. The latest the next chapter will be up is Saturday night but I'm trying to finish it before then. Hope you liked this one!

Thanks for all the reviews! And Surfix, I'm definitely planning on finishing this one so don't worry! I've written way too much of this to not see it through haha